The present invention relates to manually operated vibratory plate compactors and, more particularly, to an improved seal arrangement for the piston of a shift rod used to control movement of the compactor. The seal arrangement is readily accessible and the seals may be individually replaced or a new piston and seal subassembly substituted for the subassembly needing repair or replacement.
Manually operated vibratory plate compactors are well known and commonly used for compacting soil in back-fill, sub-grade and other construction activity compaction applications. In one typical vibratory plate compactor, pairs of parallel shafts carrying eccentric weights are rotated by driving one shaft and transmitting the rotation to the other with a gear arrangement. The eccentric weight arrangement and a drive engine are mounted on a substantially flat compaction plate. An operator's handle with controls is also attached to the plate frame. The operator controls include an actuator which can be used to adjust the rotational position of the eccentric weights on the shafts. Such adjustment alters the phase and vector of the forces generated by the eccentric weights such that the plate compactor may be made to move in a forward direction, a reverse direction, or to remain horizontally stationary, all while imposing vertical compacting forces on the surface beneath the plate.
One common means for adjusting the phase of the eccentric weights is to use a hydraulic actuator including a piston mounted coaxially in or with respect to a bore in the driven input shaft of the apparatus, the piston connected by a shift rod to a carrier head carrying a cross pin that engages a helical groove on the ID of the main input shaft bore. Movement of the shift rod assembly axially in the input shaft bore provides the rotation of the shaft and attached eccentric weights to adjust the phase. Such apparatus is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,356,736; 5,010,778; and 5,818,135.
In all of the prior art apparatus of the foregoing general type, the shafts carrying the eccentric weights and drive gears are encased in a housing partially filled with a liquid lubricating oil. The piston on the shift rod is typically connected to a supply of hydraulic fluid which is applied to the free end of the piston, operating either in a bore in the input shaft or in a cylinder housing attached coaxially to the shaft, to move the carrier and cross pin on the opposite end of the shift rod axially to rotate the input shaft for phase adjustment, thereby adjusting the speed and direction of forward and reverse movement of the compactor.
It is known in the prior art to provide the shift rod piston with a seal to prevent hydraulic fluid in the piston cylinder from bypassing the piston and escaping into the main housing. The seal is typically a uni-directional type such as a lip seal or cup seal that expands with increasing hydraulic pressure to inhibit leakage. When actuating hydraulic pressure on the piston is reduced or relieved, the eccentric weights shift in an opposite rotational direction under the influence of rotation of the main input or drive shaft to initially reduce the speed of movement in one direction (typically reverse) to a neutral or horizontally stopped position and then to increase speed in the opposite (forward) direction. Thus, the shift rod piston needs only to be single-acting and, therefore, it has been assumed in the prior art that a unidirectional piston seal to prevent leakage of pressurized hydraulic fluid was adequate.
It has been found, however, that under certain circumstances of operation, lubricating oil in the main housing can become pressurized and escape past the uni-directional seal on the piston where it becomes trapped in the cylinder housing. The lubricating oil in the housing may become pressurized as a result of high temperatures generated during operation. Also, the rapidly rotating shafts in the housing tend to stir up the lubricating oil causing it to atomize and, under pressure, seep past the seal. The accumulation of lubricating oil in the chamber intended to receive pressurized hydraulic fluid interferes with proper movement of the piston and, as a result, eventually interferes with operating movement of the compactor.
The high operating temperatures experienced by these kinds of vibratory plate compactors also create a hostile environment for any type of seal. Thus, the prior art piston seal must be periodically replaced and great care must be taken to avoid contamination of the interior of the housing during seal replacement. In addition, the construction of prior art apparatus has made seal replacement tedious and time consuming, sometimes requiring the removal of the main housing cover and partial disassembly of the eccentric weights from the drive shaft to access the shift rod and piston so the seal may be replaced. Opening the cover plate for the main housing also exposes the entire interior of the mechanism to potential contamination.